Yuan Ming Joins Board of United Nations Foundation

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The United Nations Foundation announced today the appointment of Yuan Ming, Director of the Institute of International Relations at Beijing University, to the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“Professor Yuan Ming’s dedication to the study of international affairs and her efforts to spread knowledge and understanding around the globe are inspiring and will be a great asset to the Board,” said Ted Turner, Chairman of the United Nation’s Foundation Board of Directors.

“The tough global challenges facing policymakers today call for innovative global solutions. The United Nations Foundation is at the forefront of building those solutions, and I am very pleased to join that important effort,” said Yuan Ming.

“Yuan Ming is a distinguished academic with diverse international experience. Her demonstrated commitment to cross-cultural understanding will enhance the Foundation’s mission of forging alliances in the service of creating a more peaceful, prosperous, and just world,” said Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation.

In addition to her work as director of the Institute of International Relations and the American Studies Center at Beijing University, Yuan Ming is vice dean of the University’s School of International Studies. Her interests and expertise in international affairs also led her to become a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Party (CPPCC)—a political advisory body in the People’s Republic of China—and the CPPCC’s Foreign Relations Committee.

Professor Yuan Ming studied Western language and literature at Peking University, and completed graduate work in the Law Department of Peking University. China’s Open Door policy later enabled her to accept various academic posts in the United States and England, including those at U.C. Berkeley, St. Antony’s College at Oxford University, the Carter Center, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Brookings Institution. Yuan Ming frequently speaks at international gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Trilateral Commission, and the Club of Rome. She has served as trustee of the Asia Society, and she is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relation’s International Advisory Board.

The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation builds and implements public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and also works to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach.

The UN Foundation is a public charity. Its partnerships and campaigns have global reach, and cut across diverse issue areas, including: protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable development; providing insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent the spread of malaria in Africa; and increasing access to technology for international humanitarian relief and public health workers.

The members of the foundation’s Board of Directors represent 10 nationalities and an equal number of men and women. Members are: Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan; Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General Emeritus, World Health Organization; Ruth Cardoso, Chair, Comunidade Solidaria; Graça Machel, Chair, Foundation for Community Development; N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited; Hisashi Owada, Judge, International Court of Justice; Emma Rothschild, Director of the Centre for History and Economics – King’s College, University of Cambridge; Nafis Sadik, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General; Ted Turner (Chairman), Chairman, Turner Enterprises; Timothy E. Wirth, President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund; Andrew Young, Chairman, Good Works International; Yuan Ming, Director of the Institute of International Relations at Beijing University; and Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh.

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About the United Nations Foundation
The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation builds and implements public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems and also works to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach. The UN Foundation is a public charity. For a complete listing of UN Foundation grants and programs or to learn more about the United Nations Foundation, visit www.unfoundation.org.